One Visit in a Million
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: One regular trip to the bookstore becomes so much more, and has her returning to the bookstore not for the books, but for someone else... Hermione/Lucius. For HP Slash Luv


**For HP Slash Luv. I hope you like it!**

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"Miss Granger, looking for new books again, I see."

The drawling voice left little question of who exactly it was that had decided to interrupt her browsing, and Hermione was left with the irritable urge to hex the man. These precious few hours were the only moments that weren't filled with inane arguments on Quidditch, or complaints about some Slytherin that they should have made peace with ages ago. It was very nearly five _years_ since the Voldemort had been defeated, since they had been enemies on the battlefield, and Hermione had overestimated Harry and Ron's rate of maturation.

"Mister Malfoy," Hermione began, frantically trying to think of a way to get him to leave without actually sounding as abrasive as Ron or Harry would. They still hadn't forgiven the man for housing Voldemort and keeping them in the dungeons of his manor. While Hermione was still wary of the man, the only woman who had harmed, and scarred her, was dead.

His sigh caused the hair on the back of her neck to sway slightly, and Hermione almost felt bad for the elder Malfoy. All the Death Eater families, and to an extent even the Dark Families that had remained neutral, were treated with wariness and distrust. The Malfoy family were the worst off, with everyone remembering Draco and Lucius's disdain for everyone who wasn't Pureblood. There were few who even bothered to interact further than a glare in their direction. Hermione knew that Harry tried for her sake. Ron stuck to remaining silent, but that was better than him spewing insults like she knew he wanted to.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I apologise. It's just rare to see you without Potter and Weasley nearby."

"No, no. It's fine. Are you picking something up, or just browsing?" Hermione placed a finger along the line she had been reading, closed the book, and turned to look at the older wizard. He looked out of place among the dusty shelves of books that were rarely touched. His robes were still perfectly pressed, despite no longer being of the latest colour and cut. They had retained their Manor, but little else, and Hermione got the feeling that they were uncomfortable continuing to live in the Manor.

"Ah. I'm just browsing today. It appears the book I had ordered hasn't arrived yet. It's a real pity; I was rather looking forward to it."

Having rarely actually _ordered_ books since Hermione had always simply found something interesting while browsing, she had been under the impression that the store informed the person when to pick up their book, or even owled the book directly to the person ordering the book. It must have been a rather special book to have the Malfoy Lord venture into Diagon Alley at midday. Hermione had heard rumours of some bitter witches and wizards taking any opportunity to place hexes and jinxes on the man while he was in public.

Hermione felt her wand heat up, and slipped her finger out of the book she had been browsing. She wouldn't be able to buy anything new this week, which was disappointing as she was almost done with the last book but hadn't found anything to catch her interest in the last two weeks. She carefully placed the book back on the shelf, after a moment of looking for the gap signalling its previous position. "I hope your book comes in soon. If that is all, I'm sorry but I have to go."

"Actually, there _is_ one more thing. I know this comes years too late, but I truly am sorry for your experience in my home. I realise now, after years of being wilfully blind, that the indoctrination that was fed to me by my father, and to him by his father before him, has become outdated, resulting in something of an ignorance. _You_ are the prime example of everything that goes against that ignorance. You are intelligent, and willing to understand and learn about the magical world, and change everything that keeps us stagnant. I understand that now."

The temptation to pinch herself and make sure that she was actually awake grew stronger with every word that left the Malfoy Lord's mouth. Hermione knew that the Malfoy's, despite the general disbelief, had mellowed their disdain for muggleborns, but she certainly hadn't expected this.

"I-I don't know what to say. I'm glad you've changed your views, but—"

"I didn't intend for that to make this awkward. I apologise." He didn't allow her another word edgewise, before Lucius was disappearing between the dusty shelves, and her wand was incessantly hot against her thigh.

Her mind was filled with thoughts and theories of _why_ as she headed back to the Ministry. Harry and Ron would be arriving in her office in two or so hours, and there was still one report she needed to send out before they arrived to drag her out to whatever they had planned for that Friday. Somehow, Hermione didn't think she would be able to get Lucius Malfoy's words out of her head.

...oOo...

An incessant tapping on her window forced Hermione out of bed the next morning. She didn't doubt it was an owl, but whoever sent her an owl this early on the weekend was going to get an earful from her the next time she saw them.

Thankfully, it wasn't winter, and the battle to get out of bed wasn't as difficult as it could have been. The hawk flew in with no hesitation as soon as the window was opened, settling its package on the stand next to her bed. It didn't wait for a reply as it swept out once again. Hermione closed the window behind it, before snatching the book-shaped parcel from where it lay. A small piece of parchment had been stuck to the first page:

 _My apology for disrupting you yesterday._

Hermione knew immediately who had sent it. She flipped through the pages, finding the exactly line she had stopped at while browsing it the previous day. She was surprised that he had noticed, and that he had returned just to send her that book. She couldn't tell if it was recently purchased or if it was one of the man's own books, but she was grateful for it. Neither Harry nor Ron would have noticed; in fact, they wouldn't even have cared too much about interrupting her personal time.

Flipping the book back to the beginning, Hermione slipped back into bed, engrossing herself with the new Rune the author had discovered.

...oOo...

"Hermione, you have that odd smile on your face again. Where are you going?"

She could feel herself freeze at Harry's question. Hermione knew which smile she was wearing; she had seen it in the mirror several times over the past few months, and with every new book she had been gifted. All her attempts at returning those books had been futile, with the book returning to her with company the next day, until she had finally stopped trying.

"Uhhhh…. The bookstore?" Hermione knew that her words sounded more like a question than an answer. She also knew that she no longer went to the bookstore to actually browse through the books.

Harry walked up to her, and amused expression on his face as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "There's someone, isn't there? I've never seen you behave like this before, not even when Viktor asked you to the Yule Ball."

Hermione nodded slowly. She didn't know how Harry would react when he found out. Ron definitely wouldn't take it well, but Harry had been trying.

"I'm not going to judge you, Hermione. After everything that's happened, I'm just glad to see you this happy again. To be honest, I think most of the Weasleys expected you to end up with Ron, and they'll be a bit disappointed, but they'll get over it. _I_ can see that you're happy, and whenever you're ready to tell me who makes you feel this happy, I'll be glad to hear it, okay?"

The relief that flooded through her found her hugging Harry tightly. She knew that Harry would try, even if he didn't completely like it, to accept Lucius when she told him, and Hermione was glad that she wouldn't lose everyone because of this. She knew she would be extremely surprised if Harry didn't find out about it by the end of the week, but she was okay with that.

"All right, now," Harry said, releasing her from the hug. "I think you're going to be late if you don't leave now. I don't know why the two of you still meet in that bookstore. I haven't seen you return with a book in ages."

Hermione could feel the heat rising on her face. It had been a convenient excuse when no one had known! It wasn't suspicious in the slightest to be visiting the bookstore regularly, and she hadn't thought anyone had noticed her lack of books.

"Go, Hermione. Stay later, if you want. There's a Quidditch match later this afternoon. Ron will be thoroughly distracted. We can't have you equally bored, now can we?"


End file.
